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Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Trader Notice MH 02/2008

(Ref: VPN 2/2008)

To: All Bovine Meat Establishments

Subject: Certification Procedures for Export of Beef Offals to the Russian Federation

Background

Ireland has negotiated that the current certification for exports of beef to the Russian Federation (RF) can now be used for the export of named beef offals to the RF - livers, heart and kidney.

If plant management wish to slaughter and/or debone beef for export to the Russian Federation systems must be put in place to establish the eligibility of the beef for Russian certification.

Scope

This Trader Notice details the criteria for the export of beef offals – liver, heart and kidneys to RF.

Note:

·  No other offals are eligible for export to RF.

·  These criteria are subject to audit by personnel from the RF, Food and Veterinary Office and the Veterinary Public Health Inspection Service (VPHIS) and Internal Audit Unit of the Department.

Approved Plants for the Export of Beef Offals to the RF.

Only beef slaughter plants, which have an existing approval to export beef to the RF, are eligible to apply for approval to export beef offals to the RF.

To apply for approval to export beef offals to the RF:

·  Plant management should complete the form attached below, and forward to Meat Hygiene Section.

·  Plant management must inform the official veterinarian (VI), and prepare an SOP (see below) for approval.

·  The Department’s VPHIS will make a determination as to the adequacy of the SOP.

·  A determination must also be made of the general suitability of the rooms, structures, equipment, facilities and systems for the harvesting, handling and packing of offals for export to the Russian Federation.

·  In order to make these determinations, VPHIS may request that the plant management carries out a trial on the adequacy of the systems set out in the SOP.

·  Once the VPHIS has examined the facilities and the systems set out in the SOP, the plant will be advised by Meat Hygiene Section of the outcome of its application.

If a plant is not approved, it cannot supply beef or beef offals to the Russian market.

Role of Plant Management

If plant management wish to extend their approval to include the export of liver, heart and kidneys to the RF, they must draw up and implement a Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with the S/Veterinary Inspector. The protocol must incorporate at least:

1.  The systems in place down in VPN 9/2006 on the Certification Procedures for Export of Beef to the Russian Federation

2.  A system for the slaughter of the RF eligible cattle in one batch, that allows for the harvesting, trimming, chilling, packing, labelling and storage in an identifiable and verifiable batch.

3.  Offals must be from eligible cattle born and reared in the Republic of Ireland, who have passed ante-mortem and post-mortem examination.

4.  A segregation system for the offals eligible for the RF during all activities e.g. harvesting, trimming, chilling, packing, labelling and storage.

5.  Verifiable checks must be undertaken on a daily basis by the FBO to assure of the robust nature of the systems in place.

6.  A record must be kept by the FBO of the number of eligible cattle and the nos. of boxes of offal generated for each batch of RF eligible beef offals harvested on a daily basis.

7.  A record must be kept by the FBO of all the CR3 labels used daily.

8.  All records must be made available on request to the Veterinary Office.

The SOP must include procedures for advance notice to the VI of all intended slaughter of eligible cattle for the RF and harvesting of bovine offals for RF.

The plant SOP must generate records, that will indicate to the satisfaction of the VI in charge that only beef offals from animals eligible for Russia have been included in productions and consignments intended for that market:

-  cattle on permits and cancelled passports may be included; subject to the checks in VPN 9/2006.

-  cattle on current passports, found not to be eligible for the Russian market on CMMS checks (for example because they do not meet the TB and/or Brucellosis restriction criteria) will be excluded.

Controls at Harvesting, Trimming, Chilling, Packing, Labelling and Storage.

The SOP on RF eligible offals must also address the following:

·  all beef offals eligible for the RF must be clearly segregated from non-eligible beef offals. RF eligible and non-eligible offal may not share the same A frame, trees, hooks or containers.

·  plant management must apply a clearly readable ‘RE’ (Russian eligible) label on the A frames trees, hooks or containers that will indicate the eligible offals for RF. These labels must in all cases be applied at the point of harvesting the beef offals in the slaughter hall and the labelling and traceability must be transparent during all activities such as trimming, chilling, packing, labelling and storage. No other designation may be used to denote Russian eligible offals.

·  RF eligible and non RF eligible offals may not share the same A frame, trees, hooks or containers at harvesting, trimming and chilling.

·  RF and non RF eligible offals may share chill space subject to physical separation of the offals, and clear and transparent labelling and traceability.

·  all beef offals eligible for the RF must be packed, labelled and palletised separately from non-eligible beef offals.

Salmonella Testing Guidelines - Plant Monitoring

As an alternative to end-product testing, certifying Veterinary Inspectors may take account of monitoring programmes for Salmonella and other bacteria which have been put in place at an applicant plant and which furnish the necessary guarantees to allow the meat to be certified. These programmes may form part of the food business operator’s verification of the effectiveness of the HACCP-based procedures.

Dispatch of Offals eligible for Russian market.

The rules on the despatch of RF eligible offals from the plant of origin to an approved plant in another member state or to an approved plant in the Republic of Ireland are the same as for deboned beef as outlined in VPN 9/2006.

Labeling of Russian Beef Offals.

Labelling for Russia

When beef offals eligible for the Russian market are boxed, each box must be clearly labelled with a ‘RE’ label. CR3 labels must be applied to each box also, but the application may be done either at boxing of the product or later at the point of palletising after blast freezing and prior to cold storage. The numbers of CR 3 labels requested must coincide with the numbers of boxes of offals generated for that day and should be reconciled at the end of each day.

If not applied, the meat is ineligible for the Russian market. Each label should be applied in such a way that, when the cartons are palletised, the labels are clearly visible.

Identification mark labelling

The application of the identification mark also applies to all Russian eligible beef.

NOTE

  1. If during routine checks on traceability of the Russian consignments, DAFF staff detect that ineligible carcases/beef offals have entered consignments intended for Russia, plant management will be advised of the findings and the consignment may not be certified to Russia. The consignment is detained pending the removal or permanent defacing of the CR 3 labels on the boxes by plant staff.
  1. Plant management must then undertake a review of their protocol, to include an increased level of checks to prevent a recurrence of the incident. An increase in DAFF checks will also be undertaken to verify compliance of the plant. This increase in checks will continue until the plant has satisfied DAFF staff that the establishment controls are satisfactory. In general and if considered appropriate by the VI, slaughter, boning/ harvesting of offals for the Russian market may be suspended pending the review of the protocol.

Paul Mc Kiernan

Meat Hygiene

Grattan Business Centre

Dublin Road

Portlaoise

February 2008

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

APPLICATION FOR AUTHORISATION TO EXPORT BEEF OFFALS TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Name of Establishment ______

Address______

______

______

DAFF Approval Number ______

I declare that I am on the existing list of beef slaughter plants authorised for the export of beef to the Russian Federation

I wish to apply for authorisation to export the following beef offals to the Russian Federation:

Liver (Yes/No) ______

Heart (Yes/No ______

Kidney (Yes/No) ______

If authorised, I agree to abide by the conditions of authorisation as laid down in VPN 2/2008.

Signed ______

Name in Block Capitals ______

Position ______

Date ______

Establishment Stamp

Please Return to Meat Hygiene Section, DAFF, Grattan Business Centre, Portlaoise.